Psalm 87: Everybody's Welcome

Who are God's chosen people? According to the psalmist, everyone.  That doesn't mean that Zion - Israel -has been displaced, that they have been set aside or replaced.  Instead, God's promise is being shared with all creation.  All too often, people think in terms of zero sum games - if you benefit, I must lose.  But that's not the way God operates.  In God's economy, everyone will win - for the bounty of blessings of God are without limit, freely available, generously intended for all.

During Lent, we have the chance to consider how we feel about the promise of Psalm 87.  Does it gladden us or threaten us?  Perhaps a bit of both?  In the coming days, let's reflect on our feelings, pray upon them, and then act to do what is necessary to make sure we are right with God and God's people - wherever they are, whoever they may be.


1 On the holy mountain stands the city God has founded; *
the LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
2 Glorious things are spoken of you, *
O city of our God.
3 I count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me; *
behold Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia:
in Zion were they born.
4 Of Zion it shall be said, “Everyone was born in Zion, *
and the Most High shall sustain it.”
5 Enrolling the people, the LORD will record, *
“These also were born there.”
6 The singers and the dancers will say, *
“All my fresh springs are in you.”

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